Winter Operation
by The Young and Free Dragon
Summary: The team is gone, and Skipper is alone in a wasteland, left behind. When someone brings hope, he trys to remember what happened to his team and his world.
1. Prologue

**I do not own the songs used.**

WINTER OPERATION

BY THE YOUNG AND FREE DRAGON

Juliet

When we made love you used to cry

Say; "I love you like

The stars above

I love you 'till I die"

There's a place

For us

(You know; the movie song)

When you gonna realize?

It was just the time was wrong

Juliet

-_Romeo and Juliet_ by Dire Straits

PROLOGUE

She said it's like you're somewhere

Far away

-_Love Like Winter _by AFI

Skipper shivered a little but his tears were frozen in their ducts. His flippers were wrapped about his trembling body and he was chilled to the core, save his heart which seemed to have slowed its beating. But that was not the issue… His team was. The snow continued to fall about him as he thought of them, his feet touching the pond, where they'd once trained. His brothers, the people he'd loved his full time as a military commander.

He looked down at the ice, which showed another him looking back. _You bastard. _He thought, and if he could move very well, he would have crushed the ice with a punch. He didn't need to look up to see the hobo, starting a fire in one of the trash cans near by, to know the man was there. The guy probably was like Skipper. Trying to find warmth in a cold world. He could hear the garbage, and paper crackling under foot as the man moved close to the fire, and he could hear the man's praying. He might have even heard the tears that came with the sobs.

But he was preoccupied. His stomach was thin, and growling but he ignored it. He didn't feel like eating. He didn't need to. Hunger wouldn't kill him. But his mind would. Inside his brain, two penguins were there. They may have been Skipper look-alikes, or they could just be any old penguins. But the one on the right was curled up in a bed of snow and sniffling, all his tears had been exhausted, as Kowalski might have once said, he was dehydrated, his body gone of fluid expect for that, which was keeping his body shivering. Blood. And then the other, stood over him. The left one. It shouted and spat, and blamed, and hated, and threatened.

He might call out to them one day, to break up the fight, and bring peace between them, but what was the point? He didn't know them, and they had no importance to him. _Because I would have done it. _That was the right one speaking, softly to himself or to the other, no matter. And like it mattered.

And he suddenly found himself, resting on his side, shivering. Something lay next to his head. He looked up. He always did. Kowalski's note pad. But no Kowalski to claim it. He shivered harder and his eyes tried to wet themselves, but they remained dry in the bitter wind.

He could see the junk In the frozen water, the dead birds that floated in it when it was unfrozen. He suddenly heard a voice, pierce the ice that had encrusted his ear hole.

"You'll never bring them back by killing yourself."

The voice was vaguely familiar but he was uninterested. And it was probably just a voice in his head. Just another lost loved one, spinning in a realm of despair, and screaming to be let out. But he replied to it.

"I might as well try." His voice was cold, and scratchy because it had not been used in so long.

"You know I can't let you do that."

"No I don't."

"You've forgotten me to?"

"Most likely."

"You used to love me."

"I used to love a lot of people."

The presence drew near and he felt a warm hand touch his back. The touch was welcome and somehow, gave him some sort of glee. To feel someone, who he had apparently loved.

"Do you still love me?"

The voice was definitely feminine. He could tell now, because he was now a little interested.

"Probably not."

His answer was cold and emotionless but true. He felt the hand waver and he heard a small sniffle.

"I still love you."

Who was this? Someone who cared? Not likely. Maybe just someone trying to fool him. But as this hand touched him he knew there was at least a touch of emotion in the voice. But he hadn't heard emotion in so long, besides his own of course. He didn't know what it sounded like. But he had some facts to go on about this creature. He knew two things and that was enough to start on without looking.

Feminine.

And otter.


	2. Chapter 1

WINTER OPERATION

BY THE YOUNG AND FREE DRAGON

Juliet

When we made love you used to cry

Say; "I love you like

The stars above

I love you 'till I die"

There's a place

For us

(You know; the movie song)

When you gonna realize?

It was just the time was wrong

Juliet

-_Romeo and Juliet_ by Dire Straits

CHAPTER ONE: WASTELAND

And when I feel like I'm shit out of luck

I feel myself stupified, coming back again

-_Stupify _by Disturbed

Weather or not there was life outside of the zoo, Skipper didn't know. He'd never really cared. The biting cold and despair had frozen his emotion and his thoughts. They were stuck in one endless reel of the team. But his thoughts were snapped away from that as the otter turned him over on his stomach. He could see her, and yet she looked fuzzy, his eyes adjusting for some reason.

Green eyes, like creamy jade. Black paws, silky brown fur… silky as it always had been. She didn't seem to have weathered what the zoo (and he) had, but her spirit looked bedraggled.

"Marlene?" He whispered.

"Yes, it's me." She said in return.

Skipper, an emotionless lump after the long tragedy, hugged the otter, embracing her warmth in his flippers. The hug could not last long enough, as she broke away, helping him to stand. To stand on his feet again. That was something strange, in both senses. She gave him a tired smile and hugged him again.

"It's been so long!" She said. "I've missed you guys!"

"Guys?"

"Aren't the others here?"

Skipper's eyes blurred and once again the tears tried to force their way out of his ducts and once again, they were stopped.

"No." He said solemnly.

"Oh…" She said, breaking the hug and looking down at her feet. "I was hoping… Nevermind."

"Why're you here?"

The question was a striking blow to Skipper as he voiced it. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen her, or… anyone for that matter. He once again was trapped in a land of uncertain thoughts and he had no way of knowing what to expect.

"You don't remember much do you-… What's that?" She asked, looking behind him.

He turned, the biting wind blowing into his dry eyes, and seeing a splatter, like that made when a human dropped their coke to clap for them when they used to do their routine… but it wasn't the brown color of coke, but black with a tint of red to it. And strangely it had been where his head had been. Could he have bashed his head? Possibly, he didn't remember much.

Marlene turned him around and touched a spot on his forehead which throbbed as she connected. He jolted but didn't draw back. She moved her paw from his forehead and rubbed the dry blood from her finger tips to get it off and looked back up at him.

"Do you remember how you got that?"

"No." His answer was solemnly and emotionless again, somehow the thought of this injury brought that out in him.

"Well I think it's closed but we need to put something on it, it looks infected." She said this and then turned, pulling his flipper to take him where she needed.

Maybe that explained the throbbing headaches he had and the times he'd been with a giant fever and it was… maybe warm, he couldn't remember. It had been cold for as long as his memory stood. And it seemed eternal. Even the times he had with his team were in snow or cold breezes. She took him through the fence, now it was rusted and there was a place where the bars were crushed, the metal broken into jagged teeth.

He felt cold pavement under foot, and the trash brushed and clung to his feet. More dead birds lay about, some getting kicked aside as he stepped. They finally reached the zoo hospital. One of the windows was smashed and the door was jammed to where only a crack led inside. He followed her through the crack. Papers littered the floor. They crackled and blew in the wind, always moving. There was a lump in the papers which Marlene hastily tried to lead him past but he tore away from her and stood before the lump.

"Skipper don't-…"

There was gray hair trailing through cracks in the paper and there was clothing beneath some. He pushed a handful away from the lump. There was dirty clothes, greasy hair, grimy skin… wide opened eyes, grey and film covered. A man. Skin was peeling from the exposed face; his mouth was slightly open, his tongue lolled against the floor.

There was no blood, no sign of any foul play. He looked dehydrated and he smelled of sickness. There was no way of knowing just how long he'd been there but the body looked to have been there a few days. Why weren't there birds on him? The birds surely would be picking at him. But as he looked he noticed a few open cuts, were black and red criss-crosses of flesh stared back at him, and there were tears in the clothing. There were a few birds in here. Dead.

Marlene's paw wrapped around his right shoulder. It tightened and shook a little, as if she was about to start sobbing. He turned away from the dead body but stopped as he saw the arm lying in front of his path. He uncovered some of the papers. A bird fell to the ground at his feet. Its eyes were as dead as it. There was his hairy arm, the sleeve rolled up and the veins almost straining against the skin. There in one of them was a needle, sticking out like a knife from a body. But as he examined it, it didn't look to have been stabbed by an attacker. Judging by its direction of insertion, it looked to have been jabbed in by the man.

The name on the needle was scratched off, and it was impossible to tell what it might have been. He continued with Marlene to the fridge. She sighed heavily as she saw the fridge was lying on its side and open, the needle bag was open inside. She picked it up and put it under her arm.

"We'll have to disinfect it at the HQ. C'mon."

Marlene came out of Kowalski's lab with a sour look on her face. She still held the bag of hypodermic needles as she returned.

"Kowalski has nothing to disinfect with. And I thought he was a scientist."

Skipper barely heard her. He was sitting at the table, his old fish coffee mug in front of him and rotten fish inside. He had his head propped up with one flipper and was staring blankly at the mug.

"Want me to uh… clean that out and make you some coffee?" Marlene asked, wanting to break the silence.

Skipper wasn't thirsty or hungry, even though his stomach was tightening and roaring for food, but he nodded. She took the cup of the table, tossing the fish in the trash; she set the mug in the sink and began washing it.

Skipper continued to stare where the coffee mug had been. Marlene placed the coffee in front of him and then gentle dropped a fish in so none would splash. Skipper moved the cup to himself shakily and took a sip. His body exploded with the warmth and he hungrily drained it and ate the fish. Marlene was boiling the needle in water, the only way she knew of to kill germs. She stopped after several minutes and brought it over to him. She had grabbed the anti-biotic needle and patted his shoulder.

"Stand up, Skipper old boy." She murmured with a small smile.

He did as she said without a word and his numb bum barely felt the needle slip in and slip out. She patted his bum, in a friendly way, not meaning a sexual gesture in the slightest and put the needle on the counter. Skipper sat back down, ignoring the dull pain in his butt and looked up at Marlene.

"What happened here?"

He finally asked it. The question he'd been meaning to ask her from the time she brought him up.

"The truth?"

"The truth."

"I don't know."

"What happened to you?"

"I was… moved…"

Skipper's widened suddenly.

_ "Marlene!" Skipper screamed, his vocal cords sounding as though they were tearing. It felt like there was blood in his throat. "Marlene!"_

_His only thoughts were focused on the otter, which was being crated away. She was in the back of the truck. The driver was talking on his cell phone and laughing. Skipper, restrained by the zoo gates, which were wrapped over with police tape. The otter. The otter he'd been friends with since she had arrived was being taken away, gone without a trace afterwards. Only a memory in his tortured mind._

"_Marlene!" _

_Luck was the key factor in the events leading here. Skipper knew it. But luck had run out. The horrifying truth was taking a turn for the worse, and was showing him just how cruel life could be._

_ He couldn't remember what had led him here. It seemed that he once knew but it was gone. Wiped from his mind. Even though fear of losing the otter was overwhelming him, he could still feel the tears, and he could feel his mind screaming for the answers to how he'd gotten hear. He needed Kowalski…_

_Kowalski!_ The thought screamed in Skipper's head, like a dying animal on the road. Tortured and beaten. Screaming for death to take it away. The scream was coming from the penguin on the right. The one being cursed and spat upon. And then he was looking at Marlene. She was back, here again. Looking concerned at him.

"What's wrong?" She asked, placing a paw on his flipper.

"Nothing." He said, pulling his flipper away.


	3. Chapter 2

WINTER OPERATION

BY THE YOUNG AND FREE DRAGON

Juliet

When we made love you used to cry

Say; "I love you like

The stars above

I love you 'till I die"

There's a place

For us

(You know; the movie song)

When you gonna realize?

It was just the time was wrong

Juliet

-_Romeo and Juliet_ by Dire Straits

CHAPTER TWO: SOMETHING FRESH

Higher and Higher

We're gonna take it down to the wire

Make it out of the fire

Higher and Higher

-_Bling (Confession of a King) _by the Killers

Skipper took the notion of the phase out as a result of the bump on the head. Somehow he could accept that. He could remember that he'd never have let it be until he knew the truth when things had been different. But that seemed to have been a long time ago. Marlene continued to give him a concerned look as he sat, staring at something invisible.

Marlene knew something had come back to Skipper, but she knew prying at it wouldn't work. Skipper was complexed in all his straight-forwardness. It was strange but true. But now that she'd given him the meds and taken him back to the HQ, she wasn't sure what to do now. Except look around. She got up and began. The head quarters had decayed in the few years it had been. The concrete walls were chipping and cracked and covered with yellow-brown stains. The bunks which had once been beds were empty of pillows except one, where the cotton was torn and frayed, and the feathers inside spread about and around. She went back into Kowalski's lab. Test tubes and beakers were smashed and lying in the floor. Burns from whatever Kowalski had been making still resided on the floor from the liquid that had once been in the tubes, and she still detected an acrid smell even after all this time.

And yet it couldn't have rotted away like this. Maybe one or two might have fallen but not this many. Someone had cleared it out. The papers were a mess on the floor and on the counters. Some had dots of reddish black, possibly blood. She picked up a couple and began examining them. Formulas, not much else. She set them down on the counter, and noticed a smear of probably blood on the edge of the counter. She got a chill at the thought of it. A vision flashed into her head, some unknown attacker smashing Kowalski's head against the counter. Kowalski falling to the ground in a whirl of papers, blood pooling beneath his head and his eyes empty as they stared at the ceiling.

But there were no other signs of blood or what looked like it, so that at least cound not have happened. She walked out and over to their TV. The screen was cracked and burns from probably sparks were apparent on the wiring and set. The floor in front of the TV had a spatter of blood and few dots following the streaks. It was strange and disturbing. Private used to sit here. She didn't even let a vision of little Private's death enter her head.

She continued to pace about but saw nothing more that brought horror or interest except a long strand of blonde hair. It looked much like that of Rico's doll. It was old and dirty but still seemed to hold the warmth of Rico's love for the doll. It was sweet in a sad way. She sat back down at the table and looked into Skipper's face, though he didn't meet her eyes.

"I was transferred," She began tapping on finger silently on the table. "I don't know that you remember it but that's what happened. I was sent back to Hoboken, which was losing money because several animals had died from bird flu-like symptoms. Weather or not that is the case was unclear, but that looks to be what happened here, accounting for the dead birds. But it may have been something else; I don't know anything about bird flu except that it is deadly.

"Life seems to have gone on here for awhile, but I found a news clipping when I was being shipped to a different zoo that said this one was closing. I traveled to that zoo but managed to escape before being taken in. I hitched a ride which stopped in front of the zoo briefly so I don't know much about Now York. It might be dead out there."

"Did any other animals get shipped out when you did?" He asked, still not meeting her face.

"One," she said solemnly. "Julien."

Skipper looked up at her and then his eyes fell. The old lemur with the stubbornness of an ass but the love of the kindest soul. He secretly liked to think that Julien was his friend as well as the friend of others. He was thunder-struck at this though. He'd never wanted Julien's friendship, nor had he ever desired contact of any kind with him. But he felt alone without Julien's constant nagging and antics, even if they would drive him insane.

But his thoughts died in a moment. He was a little ashamed to say, Julien wasn't a high interest for him at the moment. His team was. But he would bite for the possible friend.

"Where'd he go?"

"I don't know," She said quietly and he could feel her eyes lower from him and down to her paws. "I hope he's okay."

"Ring-tail is fine…" Skipper said though he wasn't sure why he used that term. He usually saved it when he was speaking directly to the lemur. "I'm sure he is."

"No one seems to be." Marlene said, her paws tightening to fists.

Skipper knew she was right. No one was. No matter where they were, it didn't seem like anyone in the world could be safe, or happy. Suddenly his stomach turned, in a horror of sadness.

"We're Maurice and Mort deported with him?" He asked silently.

"Maurice was." Marlene's voice was strong but he could tell it was straining to stay that way.

And in his own mind he was crying. Mort didn't seem capable of surviving without Julien. He had to have someone to hold on to, and Julien's hostility to him seemed to draw comfort for Mort. The poor thing might have never recovered. Despite his wish for his memory, he did not want to remember Mort's face as Julien was taken away.

It seemed that the humans often times had no soul. And yet they called themselves a high and mighty species. And they cared nothing for the others on the planet. But that was a thought for another day. Irrelevant to what was at hand. What was at hand? All he knew was that his team was gone and he was sitting in his HQ with an old friend in an abandoned zoo. There was no sense of place to be or warmth or coziness. In fact he had no idea what to do.

_Kowalski option-… _The thought died before it could complete itself. He wasn't sure weather he'd said it aloud, and didn't care. But Marlene was holding his flipper again so either he'd said it or his eyes showed the pain or his grimace said his sorrow. The once great leader was helpless.

* * *

Twisted thoughts churned about Skipper's brain but the storm outside blocked him from being able to analyze them fully. Nothing new of course. The only true thing was that Skipper woke up cold. The sound of Marlene snoring was the thing of nightmares but in a way, it was sort of cute. Skipper was surprised at this thought but he remembered Kowalski's analysis of panic, fear, and hopelessness.

According to him it was normal to have these thoughts while in any of those emotions that the brain often reverted back to whatever seemed to make sense to it during a time of crisis, which was often friends, love interests, or sex. He blushed at the thought. Friends. Definitely. He slipped out of the bunk where he'd been sleeping and sat beside Marlene. She always slept facing the wall but she always made a half smile when she snored.

_It's not so bad. _He thought. _Not at all. _And he decided that for a moment, he would let his frayed mind wander about its thoughts and interests, for his sake at least. And so he observed Marlene with a lightly glinted eye; that showed some sort of minor interest. Marlene. A friendly, kind, loving otter that could break a bone when she needed to and embrace the loved.

Every creature had some sort of lust, weather that was to be near or in bed with the person of desire. Humans, it seemed were the least controlled though. Skipper was surprised at how his thoughts wondered, and how a good few were negative to humans. But once again, he knew what his small inner lust was to do. Just touch Marlene's shoulder, stroke the soft silky hair in the loving way that he might Kitka's. He reached forward and touched her shoulder gently. He felt highly embarrassed but he felt drawn to Marlene and so did as he wanted to, weather that was right or wrong.

His flipper moved across the for once, stopping at the elbow. She was warm and he felt cozy, so near to her. He lifted his flipper and continued the strokes, which sent warmth through his body and made him feel like he had a friend who returned his love.

He wondered where Mrs. Kitka was at this moment. The female had seemed so fresh in the love nature to him as he had spent time with her but she obliviously wasn't. Her nest reminded him of that. This disturbed him a little because his innocent view of everyone's actions but his own often got the better of him. He wanted to rationalize that maybe she'd never loved before but that was useless. He shivered a little as he continued to stroke Marlene's fur, now insecure. He wanted to see the falcon again, even after the whole thing with Fred, but his natural thoughts of everyone he loved in any manner to be naïve and innocent would kill that desire.

He lifted his hand away from Marlene. No this was enough. He was beginning to draw himself deeper into thought, and that would lead to confusion. He stood up and walked away wishing to stay but the cold weather drew him out to sit in, to make him feel blue as he now wanted to feel. To remind him of his situation and the bad things in life. He didn't want to feel happy, only bitter sorrow for perhaps himself, he never really thought of it that way. In any case, he no longer wanted to be near the otter, or thoughts of Mrs. Kitka.

* * *

Marlene's eyes opened slowly and she looked down at her paws without moving. One was behind her head and the other pressed to her chest. She looked up at the wall she was facing. She had felt a presence as she'd awoken but it didn't really matter did it? Skipper of course, just going outside to sit, and think. And die inside. He was killing himself with sorrow, she knew. She just wished she could help him forget it. Well at least take his mind off it momentarily. She had no way of doing this though; all his thoughts were focused on the situation.

Well maybe not _all. _She remembered Kowalski's study about panic, fear, and hopelessness. The brain often wanted to focus on matters of love, friends, and sex. Not that she saw herself as any of these except the second to Skipper. She was rather iffy of the other two. She did understand that sometimes the mind wandered and it was impossible to stop it from going to such places. She remembered this of her own, but that was a matter for another day. What was important was to help Skipper. And what could she do? Serve herself up on a silver platter. No way. She had dignity.

She didn't like any idea what so ever of even entraining any interest Skipper might have in her. She was unsure of this whole thing that the zoo had sworn was there. Her and Skipper, her and Skipper. It was the same drone everyday among gossip (not that she did this) and it was very annoying. She avoided all thoughts of Skipper and herself as a couple and killed them if they arouse.

But once again, the mind wanted to return to such things when under stress and pressure, and God knew she'd had that ever since she'd returned to the zoo. But it would be impossible to tell Skipper what lay in secret in the otter habitat. Skipper was known to everyone for acting rash and if he had any sort of interest in her it would most likely be upset by this. At this moment she wished Kitka were here to distract Skipper so she could tell him.

Not that she expected him to hurt her secret, but he might force away her help. Because of her child. The small otter was a bundle of joy and brought meaning to her life. She didn't know how to tell anyone but herself that she had had a mate. Private understood love but everyone was so protective of him, any hint at such things would cause an explosion (of the penguins).

But why wouldn't he act rationally? The father was long gone and the poor thing had no one to father it. Actually Private would make a better father, but she didn't like the idea of a child being hers and Private's. Once again that brought Skipper to her mind. Maybe she was in love with the penguin. But that didn't matter.

She got out of the bunk and went outside. It didn't matter at all. This was irrelevant to Skipper's problem and she missed everyone too. Nothing about a simple crush could matter when it went up against saving friends.


End file.
